Beetle Bouncing

I was informed Friday that Your parents would take Your Sister's car to dealerships near them to learn its trade-in value. They might even do basic haggling for a new car then let us bat clean-up. We had talked of replacing her car for a while, and that noise grew louder after we became pregnant. As it's her car, I'm out of the loop on the conversation they had. I'll do what I'm asked.

Your Parents came by Saturday to get that car and leave us their VW to drive in the meantime. Your Father called me that night to say he talked to Your Brother, who had suggestions for selling it privately. I called him, got the info (briefly: check online car sites, find the average asking price, and sell it online), and called Your Dad back to verify. With that information in hand, it was decided that we should take the car back.

I drove the VW to work today and will swap it with Your Sister's car sometime before I return home. It's a jarring change from driving our Matrix, and I'm pretty sure it's never before bounded down the road to the thumps of Missy Elliot and Jay-Z. I'm surprised the flowers stayed in the dashboard vase. Also, European gear boxes are the devil.

Your Sister watched over Saturday exams for students getting a second chance to pass them. At the same time, I performed surgery on a dying scanner before calling time of death around 10:30. I immediately ordered a larger one off Amazon, and it's the scanner I've wanted for ten years: one that can scan 11x17 art boards. No more reconstructing comic pages digitally, thank Odin.

I began scripting one of my minicomics and hoped to have a local printer handle the reproduction and binding. The first shop I went to was run by a woman who shook her head as soon as I showed her the minis I wanted to emulate; the town's allegedly preeminent print store is actually a Xerox and mailing store. She did suggest the other two stores in town, and neither is open on weekends. I'd have to drive to Hendersonville or Asheville if I wanted this work done in my free time. Instead, I'll give some Asheville shops a chance to print my convention comics, and I'll offer them advertising if they give me a discount. The inability to use nearby shops pisses me off. Virtually every business open on weekends are restaurants and tourist shops, and only half of those are of interest to locals. This will probably be a $500+ job to make three comics for me; I'm sure some business wants that money.

Your Sister worked at school Sunday during a biblical rainstorm. We lost our TV signal a few times during the very good football games. Neither Super Bowl team -- Indianapolis and New Orleans -- are ones we picked in the preseason, but we're happy with them. I'm sure she'll root for whoever I don't.

The night before, I felt Roo move. It felt like stomach rumbling. We held our hands there for so long that we lost Roo's movement among our own pulses. We were eventually sure it was over and fell into sleep. Mom's still planning to come up Thursday for the scan.

Picture of the Day
I need to run again now that the cold has passed.